2016 Best Of Colorado Springs: Welcome and Winners Index

Welcome to the 23rd annual (and the original) Best Of Colorado Springs! If it's ever crossed your mind that there's nothing to these awards, this should make you think again: This year we had the most epic attempted ballot stuffing in the 19 years I've been at the paper. A local realtor wanted the GOLD so bad that he submitted 1,503 fraudulent digital ballots attached to 1,503 fake email addresses. He did this over nearly four days in six separate chunks, also falsifying votes for 56 additional, innocent businesses.

We do not stand for cheating. Period. Three staffers, including myself, spent the better part of a week subtracting out the 15,030 falsified votes from all the totals in order to come up with the actual winners in this year's 173 categories.

So be assured, the winners that follow (and in next week's issue) — Gold, Silver and Bronze, listed in a winner's index referred to in write-ups, which spans the awards section — earned their votes by being awesome at what they do and encouraging their customers and supporters to cast legitimate votes on their behalf. Anyone who would want to win by cheating is most certainly not the Best Of Colorado Springs. To our actual winners, we salute you!